It is almost unbelievable that Victory Lap is Nipsey Hussle’s debut album, given the time and work he has put in over the years. Hardcore hip hop lovers identify his resume with projects like Mailbox Money,Crenshaw and The Marathon testifying to his dopeness. His collaborative projects, especially with YG, stamped his mark in the hip hop scene. Bitches Aint Shit and You Broke went on to dominate the Billboard 100. If you still don’t know him, he is also Lauren London’s baby daddy. The men that didn’t know him surely know her. Half the globe had her poster up on a wall somewhere. As they should..

The 16 track album boasts of some prominent features from Stacy Barthe, YG, Puff Daddy, Kendrick Lamar, Teeflii, The Dream, Ceelo Green, Marsha Ambrosius and Dom Kennedy. The production is warm and expansive, full of strings and melodies, but it still slaps hard. Thanks to Nip’s aggression levels expressed in his body of work.

The gangsta rapper did not hold back. Listening to the album, it sounds like somebody made him stark raving mad and as a result he went off in the booth. Which was a good thing for us the listeners because he packages that rage and traps you in a trance, daring you to do anything but pay attention and revel in his genius of it all. In Diddy’s words, he came ready to eat.

From the onset, the album’s brassy and conspicuous score establishes its wish to be a primetime Hip Hop event, without the reliance on pop sensibilities or hooks tailor-made for radio. How cocky of Nipsey to drop an introduction track titled, Victory Lap. The rapper laces his tracks with some pungent lyricism and straight bars delivering through seemingly heavy pent up anger from track 1 to track 16. The result being you will hardly encounter a dull moment throughout your listen.

I have only one teensy weensy minor complaint. Why the hell was Konshens not in the credits?? Come on man, I know that was his husky voice in Succa Proof. I can tell that voice in my sleep.

Regardless, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it, this album puts him in top 5 rappers in the industry proving he is very much ready for his befitting victory lap.